Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!apple!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!milton!maven!games From: games@maven.u.washington.edu (Games Wizard) Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: Re: proposed "space-mail" incentive Message-ID: <12702@maven.u.washington.edu> Date: 22 Dec 89 22:08:32 GMT References: <5711@ncar.ucar.edu> <330@hermix.UUCP> Organization: University of Washington, Seattle WA Lines: 42 In article <330@hermix.UUCP>, jay@hermix.UUCP (Jay Skeer) writes: > .. > 2) Transportation of goods > Boxes usually don't complain about 13 hour plane rides. And what needs > delivery halfway across the planet with a tighter time frame? > I for one can think of a lot of things that would benefit from much faster transit times. One example : I used to work for a company called Showlites. They do most of the VERY LARGE rock-n-roll tours in the world. Based out of L.A. They use a lot of custom electronics in their moving lights, dimming systems, chain hoist control systems, etc... Some systems are very good, and require few spares on the road, others require a good set of spares. We were doing the Billy Joel tour in Russia, when a motor control system case got dropped and run over with a fork-lift. In this case, ( digital contol lines to the chain hoists that lift the equipment ) ( many scenic moves during the show ) it was possible to get the stuff into the air with a small jury rigged unit, but not to run the show. Luckily in russia, all load-ins are done the day before the show. (In the rest of the country the same day is the rule. ) We had less than 20 hours to get them a replacement unit. And if you think that this is trivial, FED-EX does NOT go to moscow overnight, let alone some city in russia that I cant even remember the name of. Turns out that we bought the controller a seat on an airplane to london, then paid somebody there to carry it through customs to a seat on a plane to moscow, then paid somebody there to carry it through customs to a seat on the plane for the final destination. They got the thing about 20 minutes before showtime. 2-3 hour travel time would have helped a lot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trendy footer by: John Stevens-Schlick Internet?: JOHN@tranya.cpac.washington.edu 7720 35'th Ave S.W. Seattle, Wa. 98126 (206) 935 - 4384 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My boss dosn't know what I do.